With Rashtriya lok Dal extending suport to SP-BSP nominee Bhim Rao Ambedkar for the biennial Rajya Sabha elections scheduled on Friday, political circles are of the view that in the quid pro quo for this support, the RlD may field its candidate for bypoll at Kairana (Muzaffarnagar), the dates of which are yet to be announced.
Sources said that since the BSP never contests bypolls and the SP has already won Phulpur and Gorakhpur lok Sabha bypolls, there are chances that the combine might leave the seat for the RlD which has a significant presence in west UP.
Of course, the fate of the SP-BSP link-up and RlD support largely hinges on the success of the BSP noninee in the RS polls. This would have ramifications in the coming 2019 lok Sabha elections as the RlD would once again have to pick its partner for the crucial polls.
If sources are to be believed, confabulations were underway for fielding RlD national vice-president Jayant Chaudhary with the support of the SP-BSP and the Congress to wrest the Kairana seat from the BJP. The seat fell vacant after the death of Hukum Singh on February 3, this year.
The Kairana Parliamentary seat has been represented by Jayant’s grand mother Gayatri Devi in 1980. Jayant was elected an MP with BJP support in 2009 from Mathura but was defeated by Hema Malini (BJP) in 2014.
When asked, RlD MlA Sahender Singh Ramala from Chaprauli (Baghpat) said, ”Though the Kairana issue will be decided by the party brass, but one thing is sure that I will be voting as per the party whip (BSP nominee ) in the forthcoming biennial polls for Rajya Sabha.”
Sitting legislator from Kairana, Hukum Singh - a seven time (four successive terms on BJP ticket since 1996) MlA from there since 1974, was the BJP brass’ choice in 2014 general election to represent Kairana Parliamentary seat with elections being held in the backdrop of Muzzafarnagar riots in 2013 and there was a strong undercurrent favouring Narendra Modi.
With the Modi wave and a divide between Hindus and Muslims post-Muzzafarnagar riots, Hukum Singh got elected with a whopping 50.54 per cent votes which was greater than the combined votes of the SP, BSP and the RlD in all five Assembly segments of the constituency.
Three years after the euphoric victory of Hukum Singh from Kairana, the electoral calculus changed in 2017 Assembly elections, when he could not ensure victory to his daughter, Mriganka Singh from Kairana Assembly seat and she lost to SP’s Nahid Hasan by 21,000 votes.
The RlD represented the Kairana Parliamentary seat for two successive terms since 1999 when party candidate Aamir Alam was elected with 29.82 per cent vote share. Again in 2004, Anuradha Chaudhary was elected from there with a huge margin and bagged more than five lakh votes.
The BSP wrested the seat in 2009 when Hasan Begum Tabassum won. Interestingly, BSP chief Mayawati also tried to debut in electoral politics from Kairana in 1984 but was unsuccessful as Akhtar Hasan of Congress romped homw due to the wave following the assassination of Indira Gandhi.